Road work progresses

by Cat Urbigkit

Sublette County Road Superintendent Dan Holgate and surveyor Skylar Wilson spoke with the Sublette County Commission Tuesday about progress on creating an alternative route into the Pinedale Industrial Site.

The county is hoping to have the new road constructed across Doug Sterck's and a small portion of Bureau of Land Management land, with construction of the road and a bridge occurring this year, with preliminary plans for the highway approach work to be conducted next spring.

Wilson said the county now has the wetlands permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, so there is no holdup there. Plans for the approach off the highway need to be drawn and that portion of the project should be put out for bid, according to Wilson.

Holgate said he won't begin work on the road or bridge until all the clearances are in place, including approval from the Wyoming Department of Transportation. Even so, Holgate said he still anticipates late summer or early fall work to begin on the road and bridge.

"We're a lot closer than we were," Holgate said.

In other road business, representatives from Shell Rocky Mountain Production asked the commission if any progress was being made in negotiating an agreement to have a road and bridge constructed across the New Fork River between highways 191 and 351 to service the natural gas field development occurring in the Jonah Field and the Pinedale Anticline.

Commissioner Gordon Johnston reported that landowners Doc and Marilyn Jensen may grant permission for a road, but they reportedly don't want a county road across their property.

Johnston said, "Whenever all the activity stops down there ... they would like to have the whole thing die, even the road."

"Why wouldn't you want a county road to connect the two county roads?" Linda Tanner of Shell Rocky Mountain asked.

The commission agreed to try to facilitate a meeting with the Jensens, at Commissioner Betty Fear's suggestion. The commission will inquire whether the Jensens are able to attend the commission meeting Aug. 23.

Sharon Rutsch spoke with the commission about the possibility of having the county take over about two miles of the subdivision road in the Redstone Warren Bridge Subdivision.

The commissioners said the road needs to be improved to meet county road specifications before the county will consider taking it over.

Holgate said he would visit the area to instruct the homeowners what needs to be done to bring the road up to standard.

In other road business, the commission didn't take a favorable view of Gerald Prohaska's request for compensation due to the mental anguish and stress he alleges he suffered due to the county's actions on the road adjacent to his property in the Energy Industrial Subdivision located near Muddy Creek and Eiden's salvage